LUKBAN
Chapter 2
Americans invade Samar
There was only one reason why the Americans wanted to occupy parts of Southern Luzon, Leyte and Samar and northern Mindanao: hemp. Manila hemp was viewed as the best in the world, and the demand for it was high among American farmers. But the navy’ s blockade had severely affected its production and trade. Moreover, they saw that Aguinaldo’ s appointed leaders in the provinces were taking advantage of the commodity, to the chagrin of the American traders. The only solution was to have full control of the ports. Failure in his could mean a potential political disaster that would severely affect the reelection bid of McKinley against the Democrat candidate William J. Bryan in the 1900 presidential elections.
Early in January 1900, Gen. Otis received a directive from the War Department to secure and occupy the ports in the hemp growing regions of the Philippine Islands( southeastern Luzon, the Visayas Islands of Leyte and Samar, and northern Mindanao) in order to ensure the hemp, and its cordage exported to the U. S. for critical agricultural usages. This meant if the said ports were occupied by forces not friendly to them, such forces had to be driven away. If they showed resistance, they were going to use the full powers of the mighty US Army and Navy. 1
For two days, Otis and the adjutant general debated about launching an expedition to open ports. The initial reaction from Otis was that he was unable to move troops to the hemp districts because of the lack of manpower, lack of coasting vessels which were busy supplying troops, and the U. S. transport ships had too great a draft to be useful. But finally, Washington ordered Otis to occupy the hemp ports in the provinces of southeastern Luzon: Sorsogon, Albay, Camarines Norte and Camarines Sur, the Visayan islands of Leyte and Samar, and northern Mindanao The hemp expedition was mounted with great haste and little preparation. Its success was due only to the cooperation of the army and navy.
The army was led by recently promoted Brigadier General William A. Kobbé commanding the 43rd and 47 th Infantry; the navy was represented by Commodore Raymond P. Rodgers who commanded the
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